I have been enjoying the functionality of gmail so much I was thinking about using it as my only email application for my upcoming e-commerce site. Who else is using gmail and would you also consider it as your standalone email application? For those of you who don't have an account I strongly suggest getting a gmail account and also check out other features of google such as google docs and spreadsheets.
I just started using google spreadsheets this past month and just being able to have access to your work no matter where you login is a thing of beauty.
Hope this stirs up the coals in your mind to go out and continue to try new ideas. Me being a semi-older guy (46yrs) just shows that you can catchup and enjoy the latest ideas on the web.
DougO
4 comments:
I'm a huge fan of Google Notebook. I used to have a million little slips of paper around my desk of websites, bits of info, etc. that I wanted to remember. Now, I highlight whatever I'm looking at, and add a page to my Google notebook. I think it's their best invention!
Abi,
I too use Google Notebook for note taking. Great for when I move from location to location.
I would not use Gmail for a business email application, because I believe the risks outweigh the benefits.
Data security is one place to start. Having your customers data on a Gmail server is less secure than not having it there. This is the practice of security by obscurity.
Offline access would be another reason. What if my internet connection goes down, and I need access to my thousands of archived messages? In Outlook or similar applications, I can still print or read my messages, compose replies, access my calendar, etc.. Having everthing online makes reliable online access beyond critical.
Data portability should be a concern as well. I can export all of my existing Outlook messages and import them into another application if I choose. Assuming I don't download patches or updates that disable exporting data, Microsoft can't hold my data hostage. You could argue they can do exactly that, but here are no guarantees that Gmail will always be free, nor that the service will survive long-term. Is there a tool to move all your messages out of Gmail? If so, what happens to the "labels"? They are somewhat analogous to folders... but just because a message has 5 labels doesn't mean I want 5 copies of it in different folders! :)
Much of this could apply equally to Google Docs, Spreadsheets, Notebook etc..
Matthew,
Regarding security. I am wondering if gmails security may actually be more secure than most services. Seems they have a lot to lose by not having the latest security constantly being updated.
You can have all your email messages accessed vis POP I think. Have to check into this one.
I'll check into the rest of your questions later but overall a great response that I greatly appreciate and will research further into.
Thanks for your great input.
Doug
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